Infinite Quack

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory mentioned, which states that this has already happened.”  -- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Trigger warning: Discussion of death, the meaning of existence, and a brief mention of suicide are ahead.) Douglas Adams was a remarkable man who wrote some wholly remarkable books. His Hitchhiker series made a huge impression on me in my childhood, introducing me all at once to quirky British comedy and witty science fiction parody, painting a Universe that was colorful, whimsical, yet mysterious and absurd, in which -- when you came right down to it -- nothing ultimately made sense. Then he died, which is less remarkable, really. Everyone who’s ever been born has eventually done that . He was living, you see, and then... he stopped doing th...

Thought it time to revisit this . I wrote it several months before Covid-19 emerged. At least we did tackle #7: 7) Vote Trump out on his ass in 2020. He represents the poisonous idea that we can just lie about our problems instead of facing them honestly. He has fixed nothing, he has no skills apart from conning people, and he has no respect for our system of laws. These are basic principles, without which we cannot consistently reward practices that work and phase out those that don't. His very presence in the highest office signals that the powerful, corporations included, are free to keep cheating the rest of us without fear of consequences. Electing Biden might just send a better signal. But anyone who thinks the worst is over... is not paying attention. Trump made an epic fail out of his term in office, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief that that's over -- he can no longer do the same level of damage. (He can still do some, for as long as people keep listening to hi...

I feel halved. Maybe more so. I would frequently refer to Susan as my better half, so that suggests I've lost more than that. It's also my timeline that has been sliced in two. I went for a walk by myself today, and couldn't remember doing that for a while. I realized this is going to color all my experiences from now on -- doing things I've done before, but now I'm doing them as a widower. I had experiences before I met Susan, and some of those were nice, but the best ones happened during my time with her. Now that time is over. I'm 47, so my timeline hasn't been cut exactly in half either. I've most likely got less than half my life ahead of me. Just now, it's hard to imagine it being the better half, but I can hope it'll get better than this. It's like how 9/11 changed America, dividing everything into what happened before or after. It's different, though, because this event is not shared. As I walked around the neighborhood, I heard p...

Trump’s Attempts to Overturn the Election Are Unparalleled in U.S. History This article illustrates how bad things have become. Imagine you're holding an election on a spaceship. The votes have been cast, and one side has a clear majority. But the other side is so intent on winning, by any means, that they start opening airlocks to flush ballots out into space. Not only is this obviously an illegitimate tactic, it's also dangerous. You're throwing away precious oxygen. You're risking not just the election's integrity, but the safety of the whole crew. This is what the Grifter Oligarchy Party is doing. They're playing to win at any cost, and the cost now extends to basic norms of behavior. A system of laws stops working when a significant part of the population just decides to ignore them, and do whatever they feel like. The cost extends to making bald-faced lies, planting ideas in the heads of disgruntled Trump voters -- who have been primed, over the course of ...

‘Reach Out to Trump Supporters,’ They Said. I Tried. I Give Up. Don’t waste your time reaching out to Trump voters like I did. Instead, invest your time organizing your community, registering new voters and supporting candidates who reflect progressive values that uplift everyone, not just those who wear MAGA hats, in local and state elections. Work also to protect Americans against lies and conspiracy theories churned out by the right wing media and political ecosystem. The right-wing conspiracy theory funhouse of Alternative Facts is essentially a cult. People who are happy listening to that day after day... they aren't about to be talked out of those ideas by rational arguments. What would  talk them out of it? Perhaps, nothing. People have to realize the truth on their own, sometimes. They will leave the cult only when they're ready. But don't wait for them. Try to make progress despite  them, progress that will benefit the whole society including  them. Someday, once...

‘The Far Left Is the Republicans’ Finest Asset’ The Democratic Party represents an enormous group of competing constituencies, running the gamut from trade unionists to feminists, from minorities to environmentalists, from secular Americans to LGBT advocates, a list that can be extended to multiple pages, with many people in the party answering to several of these descriptions, further complicating matters. Yeah, that's a challenge. Because we have just two parties that matter in the US today. One party is batsh*t crazy, greedy and selfish to the point of nihilism, has abandoned all pretense of having a value system, and has now shown willing to burn the country down (or at least its democracy, its heart and soul) rather than surrender control over it. And on the other side, we have the Democrats. The party of everyone who isn't crazy . Well, you can't put all the rational people under one roof and expect them to agree on everything. This problem partly exists because the G...

Behind Trump’s Yearslong Effort to Turn Losing Into Winning This crap makes me furious. It wasn't a surprise when it arrived; Trump has been broadcasting for a long while, to anyone who would listen, that he was going to do all he could to cast doubt on the integrity of the election in an effort to retain his hold on power if he lost. But anticipating it doesn't mean any of us should stand for it. The expectation that we will choose our leaders through a voting process is baked into our Constitution, and has been since its beginning. But like any legal system, operated by fallible humans, it relies on a basic expectation of decency, on good-faith attempts to discern what is true and what isn't. Going around sowing doubt in the integrity of the voting process -- it's the kind of thing that is effective due to some inbuilt tendencies we all have, to form beliefs based on insufficient evidence. It's a con. Trump isn't good at much, but he is good at conning people....